Railway switch-stand



(No Model 0. ALKINS. RAILWAY SWITGH STAND.

No. 408,820. Patented Aug. 13, 1889.

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N. PETERS, Phoio-lflhugraphan Washiu UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES ALKINS, OF, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY SWITCH-STAN D.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,820, dated August 13, 1889.

Application filed March 28, 1889. Serial llo.305,18lx (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES ALKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illi nois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Switch-Stands, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to switch-stands for railway service of that class in which the switch-rails are suitably connected with 7 a sliding rack-bar that is operated by a gear, and in connection therewith some suitable signal device employed-much as a day and night signal which said rack-bar prior to my invention has in switch-stands of said class been operated through the medium of a rockshaft provided at one end with a hand-lever and at its opposite end provided with abevelgear engaging a gear upon rotary shaft whereon the signal is arranged, the gear or cog for operating the sliding rack-bar having been in such case fixed upon said rock-shaft.

The object of my invention is to dispense with the bevel-gear heretofore provided upon the rock-shaft as a means for engaging and operating a gear upon the rotary signal rod or shaft, and to operate said signal rod or shaft from the sliding rack-bar, whereby the signal may under all circumstances exactly correspond with the end shift of the rack-bar.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other useful ends my invention consists in matters hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents in perspective a switch-stand embodying the principles of my invention, a portion of the raised bearing for the rotary signal-rod being broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig. 2 represents a top plan view of the switch-stand shown in Fi 1, with one of the cheek-pieces broken away for convenience of illustration, the rotary signalrod being shown in cross-section taken at a point just above its slotted arm, the elevated bearing for said signal-rod being removed. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but shows the rack-bar provided at one side with a supplemental rack, which engages a cog upon the rotary signaLrod.

In said drawings, A indicates the sliding rack-bar, and B denotes the base of a switchstand upon which the rack-bar is supported and arranged to slide. The rack-bar can be connected with the switch-rails or switch in any suitable way, its end a being herein shown as adapted for pivotal connection with any suitable rod or bar which may be extended from the raclebar to the switch. The rack bar slides between a couple of cheek-pieces O, which risefrom the base of the stand, and which are arranged parallel with one another and at a suitable distance apart to provide between them a suitable guideway for the rack-bar. upper surface, as at a, and its said toothed portion is engaged bya cog D, which may be turned alternately in opposite directions for the purpose of shifting the rack-bar. The

cog D is fixed upon a spindle or rock-shaft d,

which has its bearings in the cheek-pieces C, and which is at one end provided with a weighted lever E.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the rack-bar is at one side provided with a horizontal arm a which has 7 5 a sliding pivotal connection with an arm F, that is fixed upon the rotary signal G. As a simple connection between said arms a and F, the arm a is provided with a pin at, arranged to engage in a slot f in the arm F.

By the foregoing arrangement the end movement of the rack-bar, whether caused by operating the cog D or by the movement of the switch during the passing of a train, will cause a swing on the part of the arm F, and since said arm is rigid with the rotary signalrod G said signal-rod will be operated. The partial rotation of the signal-rod about its axis in either direction will necessarily turn the signal H, which may be of any suitable o nature and fixed upon the rotary signal-rod in any suitable way. The arm F is at its inner end desirably provided with a sleeve or collar f, which can be fitted upon the rotary signal-rod and adjustably held thereon by a 5 set-screw f or other suitable means. The arm a can also be provided with a series of holes, in any one of which the pin a can be set; or the said arm'could be slotted and the pin or bolt adjusted along said slot in any suitable mechanical way. The arm a extends through an opening 0 in one of the cheek-pieces O, which said opening will be of sufficient horizontal length to permit the de Said rack-bar is toothed along its 65 sired end movement 011 the part of the rackbar that is provided with said arm a In Fig. the connection between the rackbar and the rotary signal-rod is attained by means of a supplemental rack or line of teeth I, rigid with the rack-bar A and arranged along one side of same, the supplemental rack I in such case being arranged to engage acog K, that is fixed upon the rotary signal-rod G.

For the broader purpose of my invention I desire to cover the feature of the signal-rod connected with and operated from the rackbar in place of being operated from the rockshaft that carries the cog by which the rackbar is operated, and as a matter of preferred and special improvement I have herein selected the sliding pivotal connection between the rack-bar and the rotary signal-rod.

In conclusion I may observe that I propose to herein employ the stop device set forth in my application No. 284 593, and consisting of a rack-bar formed with or secured upon the under side of the rack-bar and arranged to engage in a slot in the base B.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. In a railway switch-stand, the combination of the gear D and a weighted lever connected therewith, and the sliding rack-bar arranged to engage with said gear, and provided with an arm which is connected with the signal device, so as to operate the same by a connection between the rack-bar and signal device, in contradistinction to a connection between the signal device and a gear upon the spindle of said gear that engages the rack-bar, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the rack-bar arranged to slide between the cheek-pieces O, the gear D, engaging the rack-bar and fixed upon a spindle having its bearing in said checkpieces, a weighted lever fixed upon one end of the spindle, and a connection, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, between the rackbar and a rotary signal-rod, in contradistinetion to a connection between the signal-rod and said spindle, as and for thepurposc described.

CHARLES ALKINS.

Witnesses:

CHAS. G. PAGE, ANNIE Gowns. 

